Brodsky Lecture by Consuela ‘Chela’ Metzger to focus on book conservation education

Consuela “Chela” Metzger from the University of Texas at Austin School of Information will present the lecture “Rare Skills for Rare Books: Book Conservation Education” on Friday, Nov. 7, at 4 p.m. in the Peter Graham Scholarly Commons on the first floor of E.S. Bird Library at Syracuse University. Free event parking is available in Booth Garage, on the corner of Waverly and Comstock avenues.

“Even in our screen-driven age, the book still carries monetary, artistic and symbolic value, in addition to its intellectual content,” Metzger says in describing her lecture topic. “What skills must a book conservator have to treat damaged rare books properly? Is the restoration/conservation of books a craft related to bookbinding? And if so, what is the best way to teach that craft? I have been teaching book conservation at the graduate level since 2001, but to me these questions remain unsettled and unsettling. I hope to bring together observations from my life as a librarian, bookbinder, book conservator and educator to explore the skills needed for book conservation in the 21st century.”

Metzger teaches full time at the Kilgarlin Center for Preservation of the Cultural Record in the University of Texas at Austin School of Information, the only program focused specifically on library conservation in the United States. A graduate of the North Bennet Street School, she completed an internship in rare book conservation at the Library of Congress in 1994 and worked as a project conservator for more than five years at the Huntington Library. She has also lectured and taught internationally, with a focus on Latin America, and writes articles and book reviews in the field of book arts and bookbinding in the United States.

The lecture is sponsored by the Brodsky Endowment for the Advancement of Library Conservation, which sponsors programs to promote and advance knowledge of library conservation theory, practice and application, both on the SU campus and in the Central New York region.

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